The 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles may be four years away, but after winning her eighth career gold medal, swimming superstar Katie Ledecky is leaving the door open for a return to the Summer Games.
Ledecky’s gold in the 1500-meter freestyle was her 12th overall Olympic medal, tying her with Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson for the most medals ever by a female American Olympian in any sport.
And she is not done just yet in this year’s Olympics.
On top of that, it would appear that the 27-year-old, who is the niece of Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky, hasn’t ruled out at least one more go in the sport that she has dominated.
“I’ve been consistent over these last few months and last few years in saying that I would love to compete in L.A. and that hasn’t changed,” Ledecky said after the race, according to ESPN. “That could change. I mean, you never know. So, I really just take it year by year at this point and I really haven’t thought much beyond this week in terms of what my fall is going to look like, what my next year is going to look like.“But yeah, I don’t feel like I’m close to being finished in the sport yet.”
Ledecky captured the gold with a time of 15:30.02, which was an Olympic record and the eighth-fastest time in the history of the 1500-meter freestyle.
She dominated the event to the extent that NBC had to adjust its broadcast angle because Ledecky had such a large lead over the rest of the field.
The American swimmer will be back in the pool on Thursday as part of the Women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay and then will compete in the 800-meter freestyle, which has its heats on Friday with the finals taking place on Saturday.
She has a chance to break former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina’s female gold medal record, which stands at nine.
